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ONLINE STUDY GUIDE FOR THE CANTERBURY TALES

The Friarís Tale: Prologue

During the Wife of Bathís Tale the Friar had kept on giving black looks at
the Summoner and had only restrained himself from swearing for the sake
of good manners. Now when the Wife of Bathís the ended the Friar told
her that she had touched upon a difficult academic problem that should
best be left to schools of learning and sermonizers since their purpose
was entertainment. He then offers to tell a story about a Summoner. However
the Host reprimands him from taking revenge of the Summoner and tells
him to tell another tale. However the Summoner interposes and asks the
Friar to say what ever he wishes since he too has a tale about a lying
limiter (i.e. a Friar).

The Friarís Tale

Summary

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There once lived a corrupt Summoner who worked for a very strict archdeacon. This Summoner had a secret
network of private spies, that even included pimps and harlots, who acted as his informers. They would
provide the Summoner with incriminating evidence against the parishioners thereby enabling him to fleece
them. The poor parishioners would quite willingly fill the Summonerís purse to avoid being
excommunicated. The Summoner was extremely skilled at finding adulterers, concubines and whoremongers
since his income depended on it.

One day the Summoner set out with the intention of delivering a false summons to a poor old widow on
some trumped-up charges. One his way, he met a jolly Yeoman who carried the trademark bow and arrows
and wore a short green coat and a black fringed hat. The Summoner pretended to be a bailiff and told the
Yeoman that he had set out to collect rent. The Yeoman greeted the Summoner as a fellow brother since he
was also a bailiff and the two of them became friends.

As they rode on together the Yeoman said that he lived far in the northern country. Their conversation soon
turned to their occupations and the Summoner asked the Yeoman some way to make profits. He told the
Yeoman not to hold back anything for the sake of conscience or fear of sin. However the Yeoman replied
that his wages were very low as his master was very tight-fisted. By hook or by crook he barely managed to
subsist. The Summoner said that his position was the same as the Yeomanís and proposed that they should
enter into a fellowship. He then asked the Yeoman his name who revealed that he was actually a fiend and
lived in hell.

The Summoner was surprised at this revelation since he had really taken him for a Yeoman since he had a
human form. He asks the fiend about his ability to transform himself into any shape. The fiend explains that
he can assume any form that he liked but the process was too complicated for the Summoner to understand.
The Summoner decides to work with the Yeoman even after learning his true identity and both set off
towards the village.

On their way just at the entrance of the village they saw a man whose cart
laden with hay was hopelessly stuck in the mud. He whipped his horses
but the cart refused to come unstuck. The man then started cursing his
horses in frustration and hoped that the Devil would take his hay, cart
and his three horses as well. The Summoner urged the fiend to take the
horses and the cart of hay but the fiend replied that the man didnít sincerely
mean it from his heart. Soon enough the horses pulled the cart free from
the mud and their master blessed them. The Summoner and the fiend then
rode on to the house of an old widow against whom the Summoner had fabricated
false charges to extract some money. When they arrived at the widowís
door the Summoner delivered her a summons to appear before the archdeacon
to answer the charge against her. The widow replied that she would not
be able to go since she was unwell and asked for a copy of the summons
so that her lawyer could reply to the charges against her. The Summoner
then told her to pay him twelve pence to ignore the matter. However the
widow refused to do so. When the Summoner continued to threaten her the
poor widow she wishes that he be damned, and carried away body and soul
to hell. The fiend asks her whether she sincerely wishes that the Summoner
be damned, she said that unless he repented then and there, she really
wanted him to go to hell. The Summoner scoffed at the idea of repentance
and the fiend was only too glad to fulfil the widowís curse and carried
him off to Hell. The Friar ends his tale by wishing that hell is the heritage
of Summoners and prays that they mend their ways before the devil gets
them.

Notes

At the end of the Wife of Bathís Tale a quarrel erupted between the Friar and the Summoner. Both proceed
to tell a tale against the other. Friars and Summoners were always competing against each other. The Friars
held direct authority from the Pope while the Summoners came under the jurisdiction of the archdeacons and
bishops. Since Friars were not under the dominion of bishops they were immune from Summoners. It is
common knowledge that neither Friars nor Summoners were liked by the people and were condemned for
their corrupt practices. The Friar harbors a professional hatred against the Summoner and thus attacks him
through his tale.

The Friar skillfully attacks the Summoner and shows him in alliance with the
devil himself. Further the Summoner comes off the worse when compared
to the devil. The Friar shows that devils have a better code of honor
and integrity. The devil/ fiend is perceptive enough to realize that the
Carterís curse against his horses isnít heartfelt. But he readily accepts
the widowís sincere curse that the Summoner be damned. When the Summoner
refuses to repent the devil promptly carries off the Summoner to hell.
Thus the Friar satirizes the Summoner through his tale. The high point
of ironic sarcasm is reached when the Summoner thinks that the Yeoman
(devil) looks similar enough to be his brother in trade. Even after learning
the Yeomanís true identity the Summoner continues his partnership with
him. The author here makes an indirect comment on the Summoner's character
and also on his character.